History of the program’s development

Eating from the Garden began in 2002 as a summer 4H youth development
gardening program in the Kansas City area. For about three years, the program
assisted schools and community centers with putting in gardens during the
spring and summer months, and nutrition material from the FNEP curriculum
was used to encourage kids to eat more fruits and vegetables through gardening.

In 2005, the Eating from the Garden program took on a new direction.
It was determined that there was a need for a curriculum that was more nutrition
based to blend in with the gardening curriculum. The Eating from the
Garden curriculum was developed as a result with lesson time split between
nutrition and gardening. The team decided to concentrate on the 4th-5th
grade level and plant two gardens each year, one in the spring and one in
the fall, and have the children plant and harvest the vegetables each season.

In 2007, the team applied for and received grant funding from the Health
Care Foundation of Kansas City for an 18 month pilot project in the program
format it is today. Based on the pilot and the desire to implement the program
in more schools, the team adopted a trained nutrition garden volunteer format.
Volunteers receive 30 hours of training in nutrition and gardening and then
commit to giving 30 hours of volunteer time building the gardens and teaching
the curriculum in area schools and community centers. Through the grant,
the program hired a project coordinator and a part time volunteer coordinator
to implement the program.

The team received a second 3-year grant from the Health Care Foundation
and is piloting a second grade curriculum in some of the project schools
this fall. The project has received tremendous assistance with building
gardens and training volunteers from the Kansas City Community Gardens.
Master Gardeners have also assisted with teaching and building gardens as
a part of their Master Gardener volunteer expectations. The Family Nutrition
Education Program provides some of the nutrition lessons for the schools
and 4H associates have been trained to deliver the program in the afterschool
program. Site directors at several local community centers have been trained
to deliver the program. One school district uses high school agriculture
students to assist with the teaching and mentoring of the younger kids in
an afterschool program. We have also added chef demonstrations to our program.

During our third round of funding in 2012, our goal is to continue to
integrate nutrition and gardening throughout our Eating From the Garden
schools. We will be focusing on six pilot sites to include some of the
following options. These options will entail setting up teams of parents, teachers, aides,
custodians or other staff to support the maintenance of the garden and
to assist with other activities, including:

Setting up display cases

Creating bulletin board displays with pictures of the kids working in the garden

Adding high tunnels to expand growing seasons of fruits and vegetables

Building compost bins and adding rain barrels to expand capabilities of
the garden and teach science concepts

Planting fruit trees to extend experiences in the garden

Having garden days or festivals for all kids in the school

Having fresh fruit and vegetable snacks for all students
in the school

Having short activities in all the classrooms about
fruits and vegetables

Developing short health announcements for the
school that could be given by the kids

Having monthly fruit or vegetable promotions that include tasting and use in the school lunch

Identifying science experiments and math activities using garden plants
and materials for each grade